Generally, a cake is a kind of dessert made by baking dough in which butterfat, eggs, sugar, milk and spices, etc. are mixed with wheat flour which is the main ingredient of the cake. According to the dough and cooking method, cakes are classified into a sponge cake, a butter cake, a pâte à choux dough cake, a yeast dough cake and a cookie dough cake.
After a cake is made by baking the dough, the cake is decorated with a coated and squeezed icing. Coated icing means that various coating materials are spread on or cover the cake. Squeezed icing means that a cook decorates the cake with a desired line or shape using squeezing bags containing various squeezing materials.
The above-mentioned coated and squeezed icing is made of chocolate, creams, a meringue which is made by whipping the white of an egg mixed with sugar, and a marzipan which is dough made by mixing almond powder with syrup. Particularly, in the creams for the coated and squeezed icing, there are a whipping cream made by whipping a fresh cream including sugar, a butter cream in which an egg and sugar are included in butter, a ganache made by mixing chocolate with a fresh cream, and a grass royal which is used for a wedding cake decoration and is made by mixing sugar, the white of egg, lemon juice and tartaric acid.
Furthermore, accessories, such as a sugar flower, nuts, and a harmless sign plate which is made by printing desired figures and letters on rice paper made of rice using an edible ink, are placed on the cake decorated with the coated and squeezed icing, thus completing the cake decoration.
In addition, various sugar dolls or candles may be fastened to the cake for decoration and to express a special congratulatory message.
For example, a wedding doll or candles to show the age of a person celebrating a birthday are fastened to the cake, so that the atmosphere of the celebratory event, such as a birthday or anniversary, is joyful.
Typically, upon buying a cake, candles, knives, firecrackers, and cards are provided along with the cake. The above-mentioned accessories are useful to create a festive and joyful atmosphere at the celebratory event, such as a birthday or anniversary.
However, limitations are imposed on producing such an atmosphere using conventional cake accessories. Candles, which are provided with the cake, have simple shapes and functions. Accordingly, it is difficult to produce more beautiful and varied atmospheres by candlelight resulting from several candles. Thus, a new decorating means has been desired to solve the above-mentioned problems.
In an effort to overcome the above-mentioned problems experienced with conventional cake accessories, a cake decorating accessory for the climax of the celebratory event was proposed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-0040637, which was filed by the inventor of the present invention, entitled ‘CAKE DECORATING ACCESSORY’.
In the conventional cake decorating accessory disclosed in No. 2004-0040637, a congratulatory message screening on a transfer paper is displayed by heat transferred from a heating unit. The conventional cake decorating accessory includes a base which has the heating unit and a display unit provided on the base.
The base further has a support pin at a lower surface thereof, so that the base is easily and stably attached to the cake. The heating unit and the display unit are provided on the base opposite each other.
The display unit includes transfer paper with thermo-chromatic microcapsules. The display unit displays a congratulatory message on the transfer paper while responding to the heat transferred from the heating unit. The heating unit has a plurality of candles. Candlelight provided by the candles functions to transfer heat to the display unit, and as well, to produce a graceful and mysterious atmosphere. Thus, the atmosphere of the celebratory events, such as birthdays or anniversaries, is beautifully created.
In the meantime, another conventional cake decorating accessory was proposed in Korean Patent Application No. 2003-17031, which was filed by the inventor of the present invention, entitled ‘CAKE DECORATING ACCESSORY WITH MESSAGE DISPLAY FUNCTION’.
This conventional cake decorating accessory includes a decorating plate which has a support pin at a lower surface of the decorating plate, thus being fastened to a cake. The cake decorating accessory further includes a heating unit and a message board which are provided on the decorating plate opposite each other. A thermo-chromatic transfer paper is attached to the message board.
In the conventional cake decorating accessories, birthday or anniversary congratulatory messages are printed on the transfer papers, before thermo-chromatic microcapsules are layered on the transfer papers. By heat transferred from the heating unit to the display unit, outer layers of the transfer papers become colorless. Therefore, the printed congratulatory messages are exposed to the outside. Thus, the atmosphere of the celebratory events, such as birthdays or anniversaries, reaches the climax.
However, in the cake decorating accessory disclosed in No. 2004-0040637 and the cake decorating accessory with the message display function disclosed in No. 2003-17031, users cannot directly write the congratulatory messages that become exposed to the outside when the outer layers of the transfer papers become colorless. Therefore, the users cannot express individual congratulatory messages. Thus, the conventional cake decorating accessories cannot accommodate the recent trend of customizing the congratulatory message. To solve the above-mentioned problems, a new cake decorating accessory is required.